Classic PlayStation 2 games ready to run on the PlayStation 4

When exactly Sony is planning to announce Dark Cloud for the PlayStation 4 isn’t clear, but the leak may mean a major backwards compatibility reveal at the PlayStation Experience on Saturday.Sony has finally confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in the company’s recent history, something we all knew heading into this weekend’s PlayStation Experience.

But although many have begun to assume Sony is on the cusp of announcing backwards compatibility with the PlayStation 2, and possibly 3, the small print for Dark Cloud suggests otherwise. Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy cover half of Level 5’s excellent PlayStation 2 library, minus Dark Cloud 2, which has already been classified, and Dragon Quest VIII of course. Additional enhanced features include Shareplay (Active PS Plus membership may be required), Remote Play, Activity Feeds, and Second Screen support for game manuals through the PS Vita system or PlayStation App,” read the description, as reported by Gematsu. “Copyright 2011 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Since there’s nothing unusual about Dark Cloud, in terms of technology or licensing, the natural assumption is that this small print will follow for all other PlayStation 2 games.

The screenshot was taken from a YouTube video by Twitter user BradazKing, that Sony mistakenly put up early, and confirms other features of PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility, namely 1080p resolution upscaling, and support for Trophies, Remote Play, Share Play, and displaying the game manual on a second screen. PS2 Classics and PS2-formatted discs are incompatible with the PS4 system.” In other words, you aren’t going to be able to just stuff an old PS2 game into your PS4 and expect it to play, which is different than how Sony rival Microsoft is handling backwards compatibility between the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One. It’s a bit on the expensive side, and it doesn’t account for if you already bought the games on the the PlayStation 3 or not. $15 is too much for a resolution boost and the convenience of playing on a new system. It’s also worth pointing out that outside of Grand Theft Auto, each of these are first-party published titles, so Sony might not have any third-party companies ready for tweaking their classics for trophy support, remote play, and resolution boosts just yet.

We will be working tirelessly to bring you your favorite PS2 games with new releases on a regular basis, and we hope you love playing PS2 games on PS4 as much as we did making them!